Human Factors and Ergonomics

Kinematics

Stories

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Briefs: Aerospace
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a programmable steering wheel called the Tri-Rotor, which allows an astronaut the ability to easily operate a vehicle on the surface of a planet or Moon despite the limited dexterity of their spacesuit. This technology was originally conceived for the operation of a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to improve upon previous Apolloera hand controllers.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
This system can track the motion of the entire body with a small sensory network.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
This work could help severely injured people, such as soldiers, regain the ability to control their movements.
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Briefs: Wearables
Exoskeleton legs are capable of thinking and making control decisions on their own using artificial intelligence technology.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The robot can walk, run, jump, and interact with the environment in synchrony with a human operator.
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Briefs: Wearables
A triboelectric generator made of flexible circuit boards creates electricity when the wearer moves.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
This system can track the motion of the entire body with a small sensory network.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This technology can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
This technology shows potential for the detection of subtle human motions and the real-time monitoring of body postures for healthcare applications.
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
The last thing you probably do when a fly buzzes toward you is marvel at its graceful wing and body kinematics. But that’s exactly what researchers at Cornell University’s Itai Cohen Group do...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Polymer Twists and Bends in the Presence of Light
A liquid crystal elastomer can be programmed to exhibit controllable, dynamic behavior without the need for complex electronic components.
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Between walking and running, human gaits can cover a wide range of speeds; for example, at low speeds, the metabolic rate of walking is lower than that of running in a slow jog. The...
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Briefs: Medical
A new type of mechanical instrument was developed to perform complex, minimally invasive procedures, also known as laparoscopic surgery. The technology could lead to less trauma for...
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Briefs: Communications
A paper-thin, flexible device was created that can generate energy from human motion, and can act as a loudspeaker and microphone. The transducer is ultrathin, flexible, scalable, and...
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Briefs: Imaging
Fine-grained human motion tracing — the ability to trace the trajectory of a moving human hand or leg, or even the whole body — is a general capability that is useful in a wide variety of...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Hexapods — six-legged parallel-kinematic machines — are quickly gaining ground in a broad range of industrial automation applications after “learning” how to...
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NASA Spinoff: Aerospace
When flying the increasingly crowded skies, pilots need to have an arsenal of information: altitude, airspeed, fuel level, distance to their destination, and the location of other...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Heading Versus Tilt Chart for Assessing HGA Occlusion and Flop Risk in MSL Operations
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) high-gain antenna (HGA) sits low on the deck, leaving the sky occluded in many directions by other parts of the rover. Each drive must end with the rover at a heading where the Earth will be unoccluded during the next HGA...
Briefs: Information Technology
EXOS Software
An improved version of EXOS software allows for the modeling of fabrics, mixtures, and porous materials, and also provides the ability to accept hex mesh geometries. The code employs a novel numerical method, a hybrid particle finite element approach, as well as particles and elements in tandem, each modeling distinct aspects of the...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Tendon-Driven Finger, Wrist, and Thumb Actuation System
The Robonaut 2 (R2) Dexterous Robot is the result of an effort to build a two-armed, ten-fingered humanoid robot torso capable of assembly work. This invention concerns a multi-fingered hand, and is composed of several parts. One is a tendon-driven, four-link, four-degree-of-freedom robotic...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robotic Surgical Devices, Systems, and Related Methods
Various advancements have been made in the development of miniature in vivo surgical robots. These robots are designed to perform Laparoendo scopic Single-Site Surgery (LESS). After being inserted through a single incision, these robots can perform surgical procedures in a dexterous workspace....
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Kinematic Calibration Process for Flight Robotic Arms
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) robotic arm is ten times more massive than any Mars robotic arm before it, yet with similar accuracy and repeatability positioning requirements. In order to assess and validate these requirements, a higher-fidelity model and calibration processes were needed.
Articles: Electronics & Computers
iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool Michael Leydet, Richard Harrington, Alan Hutchenreuther, Vinay Bharadwaj, Chuck Krapf, Michael Link, Megan Toscas, Steven...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Detection of Moving Targets Using Soliton Resonance Effect
The objective of this research was to develop a fundamentally new method for detecting hidden moving targets within noisy and cluttered data-streams using a novel “soliton resonance” effect in nonlinear dynamical systems.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Testing of victim detection radars has traditionally used human subjects who volunteer to be buried in, or climb into a space within, a rubble pile. This is not only uncomfortable, but can be...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Support Routines for In Situ Image Processing
This software consists of a set of application programs that support ground-based image processing for in situ missions. These programs represent a collection of utility routines that perform miscellaneous functions in the context of the ground data system. Each one fulfills some specific need as...
Briefs: Software
Adams-Based Rover Terramechanics and Mobility Simulator — ARTEMIS
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Spirit and Opportunity, far exceeded their original drive distance expectations and have traveled, at the time of this reporting, a combined 29 kilometers across the surface of Mars. The Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP), the...
Application Briefs: Motion Control
Motion analysis often is based on stereophotogrammetry, which estimates the three-dimensional coordinates of points on an object by measurements made in two or more photographic images taken...
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Briefs: Software
Reachability Maps for In Situ Operations
This work covers two programs that accomplish the same goal: creation of a “reachability map” from stereo imagery that tells where operators of a robotic arm can reach or touch the surface, and with which instruments. The programs are “marsreach” (for MER) and “phxreach.” These programs make use...

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